Syriza’s First Actions: ‘Voodoo Economics’?

“One by one they were rolled back, blitzkrieg-style, mercilessly, ruthlessly, with rat-a-tat efficiency. First the barricades came down outside the Greek parliament. Then it was announced that privatisation schemes would be halted and pensions reinstated. And then came the news of the reintroduction of the €751 monthly minimum wage. And all before Greece’s new prime minister, the radical leftwinger Alexis Tsipras, had got his first cabinet meeting under way.

After that, ministers announced more measures: the scrapping of fees for prescriptions and hospital visits, the restoration of collective work agreements, the rehiring of workers laid off in the public sector, the granting of citizenship to migrant children born and raised in Greece. On his first day in office – barely 48 hours after storming to power – Tsipras got to work. The biting austerity his party had fought so long to annul now belonged to the past, and this was the beginning not of a new chapter but a book for the country long on the frontline of the euro crisis.”

Rachman comments,

Unfortunately, much of the European left seems to have temporarily lost the ability to reason – amidst the excitement of seeing the radical left take power in Athens. (Read this article, by Owen Jones, for example) Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, is being written about as if he is a cross between Salvador Allende and Rosa Luxemburg. If and when the Syriza experiment fails, the left will be ready with a new “stab-in-the-back” theory. It will be the fault of the Germans, or the bankers, or (inevitably) the CIA. Nothing to do with the “rat-a-tat efficiency” with which Syriza has set off down the path of financial ruin.

The hard-right French journal, Valuers Actuelles, went even further yesterday predicting that Germany would not cede an inch.

To sum up, there is a way forward if everybody negotiates in good faith – but the stakes are very high. The danger of political accidents is clearly there. But a messy default and potential break-up of the currency union is in nobody’s interest. So in the end a compromise is the most likely outcome.

The Weekly Worker, another left group suffering from the sleep of reason (according to the FT), states, under the cheerful heading of “Victory tainted by right populists” warns Syriza’s problems are only just beginning – Eddie Ford

Naturally, like many on the left, we in the CPGB celebrate the fact that the left received such a healthy vote and that large numbers of the Greek people said ‘Enough is enough’ – or, as the headline went on The Daily Mash spoof website, “Greeks vote to stop having shit kicked out of them”.4 Obviously, we stand in solidarity with Syriza and the Greek masses against any threats or blackmail from the IMF, ECB, World Bank – let alone the Orthodox church, Greek generals or Golden Dawn. We also applaud the way that Syriza has steadily built up a solid network of international connections and opposed left-nationalist calls to pull out of the euro/European Union (like the isolationist KKE).

But…..

Before the election we warned against Syriza assuming office – especially with minority support – without the possibility of solidarity in the shape of the international revolutionary movement. But we did not imagine that it would choose to do so alongside a rightwing party. Now the problems facing the Syriza-led government are monumental, and look set to get worse before they get better – if they ever do.

Skipping to the good bit…

At his swearing-in ceremony, Tsipras vowed to defend the constitution. Far better to have stood against the entire constitutional order, including the 50-seat top-up and all the rest of the nonsense. Unfortunately, Syriza is not committed to the disbanding of the standing army, let alone immediately withdrawing from Nato – it is taking on a thoroughly reformist coloration.